As more information is made available to users over the internet the ability of a user to search and consume content has changed.
It is known to search for content, though the information presented may not be suitable for a user nor is it necessarily presented in an easy to understand manner. Many internet users are children who are unable, or having difficulty in reading and typing. Similarly, some internet users are visually impaired and cannot view a screen or display for an extended period of time.
It is known to use a text-to-speech systems to read text stored on the internet. However, such systems require the user to input the text manually and typically require long complicated key strokes or sequences to achieve the desired result.
There is a need to provide a more efficient man-machine interface which allows users to access and be presented with content in an effective, simple to use, manner.
According to an aspect of the invention there is provided a method of providing access to/delivering textual content on the internet, the method comprising the steps of: inputting at a user device, a search query or request for a webpage, identifying the content to be delivered to the user; identifying one or more web pages corresponding to the query/request; parsing a first identified web page to extract textual content from the first web page; inputting some or all of the extracted textual content to a text-to-speech synthesiser to generate an audio output; further inputting some or all of extracted textual content to an animation unit configured to synchronise the generated audio output with one or more predetermined animation sequences to provide the visual output of an animated figure delivering the audio output; displaying, at the user device the visual output of the animated figure reading the extracted textual content.
Other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the appended claim set.